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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26776918">who lives, who dies</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/AgeOfArtemis/pseuds/AgeOfArtemis'>AgeOfArtemis</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Whumptober 2020 [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Batman - All Media Types, DCU (Comics)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Ambiguous/Open Ending, Angst, Bickering, Gen, Shock Collars, Suicide, Suicide Attempt, Whumptober 2020, day 2: pick who dies/collars/kidnapped</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 04:35:50</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,530</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26776918</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/AgeOfArtemis/pseuds/AgeOfArtemis</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Jason got kidnapped days ago, and only now the Bats show up. Except they, too, got captured, so now they're all stuck here. </p>
<p>And the only way out is to kill one of their own.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Whumptober 2020 [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1947334</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>7</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>184</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>who lives, who dies</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>so i'm kinda proud of this one. please read the tags, i'll put a discription for anyone who wants a warning about what happens before hand at the end. </p>
<p>I REPEAT: TW FOR SUICIDE/SUICIDE ATTEMPT</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"'Sup?" Jason greets casually when Tim finally wakes up. They're in a bare, concrete room. The only light source is the upper part of the wall, which was left open from ceiling until maybe ten centimeters down. Far too thin for anyone to crawl through, anyway, but it's still blocked off by thick bars. They're wearing collars that are chained to the wall and, in Jason's experience, can deliver a hell of an electrical shock.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Everyone else is still out cold.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>"What?" Tim asks, disorientated. Maybe concussed, who knows. "Where are we? What's going on?"</p>
<p> </p>
<p>"No clue," Jason replies. "I've been here for about three days."</p>
<p> </p>
<p>"-Tt-, I would say I am surprised you are still here, but what else could be expected from the failure of the family?" Damian snaps, evidently having woken up as well. Just to be spiteful, Jason doesn't tell him about the shock collar as the boy tries to take it off.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The first shock isn't that bad, anyway.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>"Yeah, that gets gradually worse," Jason informs the kid.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>"Perhaps we should use it for you then, once we get out," is the kid's hissed response. "It would save father quite an amount of trouble."</p>
<p> </p>
<p>"Robin," Dick reprimands groggily. "Behave."</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Damian sniffs but shuts up.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>"We're all still in costume, including masks," Tim notes. "Presumably, they're not interested in our identities. But then why are we here?"</p>
<p> </p>
<p>"They managed to get my helmet off, though," Jason mutters, annoyed. Those things ain't cheap, alright?</p>
<p> </p>
<p>"Probably the usual  'torture and murder' spiel," Steph mumbles, pressing the heel of her hand into her eye. "God, I have a killer headache."</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Cass nods quietly. Jason doesn't know what, exactly, she's agreeing with, but no one else questions it. Bruce also finally wakes up. Jason's sure there's some foul play going here, because there's no way they're all waking up around the same time even though got dumped in the cell with him at wildly different times and definitely not in this order.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>"Hood, you said something about shock collars?" Dick asks. Jason grunts.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>"Yeah, we're wearing 'em," he responds drily. "The voltage and duration gets upped with every shock. I don't really know the logic behind it. Trying to get it off definitely triggers it, but I'm pretty sure I've been shocked at random, too."</p>
<p> </p>
<p>"You are intolerable enough for me to-"</p>
<p> </p>
<p>"Robin," Bruce growls. Damian scowls.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Cass fiddles with her own collar, maybe to test the shock or what she can get away with, Jason doesn't understand her and honestly has no clue. She takes the shock like a champ, too.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>"Status report," Bruce demands.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>"I am fine," Damian reports dutifully. Tim mutters 'except for the fact that you're restraint like the rest of us and just got shocked' and Dick smoothly cuts in before that can turn into a fight.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>"Restraint but uninjured."</p>
<p> </p>
<p>"Same," Cass says.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>"Me too, just got a killer headache," Steph adds.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>"Same as the others," Tim replies.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>"Restraint, uninjured, been here for a couple days," Jason mutters unhappily. He pointedly ignores Dick's guilty look and Steph's surprised one. What a surprise, assholes didn't even realize he was gone.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>"Any useful information?" Bruce almost-asks. Jason thinks it's probably as close as he gets when he's Batman.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>"No," Jason grunts. "Generic henchmen, no identifiable allegiance. Only saw them when they dumped you guys here. I don’t know how they kept you guys knocked out, but you wake up far too close to each other for it to be natural. There's a video camera and some small speakers, but they haven't transmitted any audio."</p>
<p> </p>
<hr/>
<p> </p>
<p>It takes another hour or so before someone finally opens that cell door, and it's not even someone any of them know. At least the man still monologues.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The door gets thrown open in dramatic fashion. A generic ass white man, brown hair brown eyes and all together unassuming, in a suit steps into the cell, flanked by two men in ski masks with guns. God, Jason's bored. Can people start being more creative, please?</p>
<p> </p>
<p>"I assume you do not know me," the man speaks. He has a heavy eastern-European accent, though Jason can't quite pinpoint the exact country. "It is not important. I was hired by an enemy of yours who thinks there is too many of you. I am inclined to agree, considering not all of-"</p>
<p> </p>
<p>"Jesus, man, get to the point," Jason complains. The man scowls and fishes a remote out of his pocket, presses a button. Everything whites out for him, body searing with pain, and when he gets his senses back he's having trouble breathing.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>"Do not test me, Hood," the man warns. "Your collar is heading towards lethal territory. I may have been employed to only kill one of you, but I do not mind killing two."</p>
<p> </p>
<p>"Why capture all of us if you only need to kill one?" Steph grumbles. "Seems like a waste of effort."</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The man tuts. "So impatient, all of you. Very well. We will play a little game, see? All of you get a gun. You try to shoot me or my men, you will get shocked. One of you has to be killed, you decide who. If you kill no one, all of you die. Simple, yes?"</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Realization sets in as everyone starts shouting, offended and infuriated.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Jason's not getting out of here alive.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>"You don't honestly think we'd kill one of our own?" Dick demands, barely heard above the combined noise of everyone else.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>"That's your decision," the man says smugly. "One or all."</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Seven guns get thrown into the room, in arms reach. The two henchmen leave the room.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>"By the way," the man says, smirking sadistically. "Suicide does count."</p>
<p> </p>
<p>He leaves. The door slams shut.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Jason wishes he'd been fast enough to put a bullet in the man's smug face. He picks up the gun closest to him, mostly just to check it over, feel the weight of it, help him feel a little more in control.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>"Put the gun down, Hood," Nightwing says threateningly. Jason rolls his eyes.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>"Calm down, asshole, I ain't doing shit with it."</p>
<p> </p>
<p>"And we are supposed to believe that?" Damian asks. God, that kid really hates him, huh?</p>
<p> </p>
<p>"Maybe, instead of arguing this, we should think of a way out," Steph interrupts, annoyed.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>"Easiest way out is shoot someone," Jason shrugs.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>"Are you <em>kidding </em>me?!" Tim demands.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>"We're not killing anyone," Bruce snaps at the same time. "We're not even sure they are speaking the truth about only needing one of us dead."</p>
<p> </p>
<p>"Chill <em>out, </em>I wasn't suggesting I shoot any of you,<em>" </em>Jason replies. "Shoot me, problem-"</p>
<p> </p>
<p>"You're not seriously expecting us to shoot you," Dick says, offended.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>"Serious," Cass replies. "Resigned."</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Jason shrugs. "You're all way too dramatic about this. Shoot me, problem solved. Been there, done that and all that. If it turns out they <em>won't </em>release us, no harm done."</p>
<p> </p>
<p>"That is <em>so </em>not the point," Tim says. "We're not killing you!"</p>
<p> </p>
<p>"I'll come back to live anyway, it's not a big deal."</p>
<p> </p>
<p>He won't. He knows that. There's a very, very slim chance he will. Talia ran extensive tests, contacted any scientists and magician she knew that might've bee able to help. Nothing showed a sign of it being something he did on his own, something he'd be able to do again.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>He can see the hesitance in some of their gazes, the way they're considering it. And then he looks at Cass, who looks horrified.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Shit.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>"Liar," she says. "Liar!"</p>
<p> </p>
<p>"Goddamnit, Black Bat," he hisses.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>"Hood," Bruce says, voice dripping with disapproval.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>"Oh, shut up, you people don't suddenly get to pretend you care!" Jason snaps. "None of you like me, and you've made it abundantly clear you don't want me in Gotham. I'm not someone irreplaceable, I'm not doing anything no one else can do, and I'm certainly not someone any of you give a single flying fuck about!"</p>
<p> </p>
<p><em>"As entertaining as this is," </em>their captor's voice comes through the speakers, <em>"I do have other things to do, yes? I will turn on a timer for half an hour. If you have not killed someone by then, the building will explode. "</em></p>
<p> </p>
<p>Jason twirls the gun around meaningfully, challenging look on his face.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>"Hood, think about how traumatizing it'll be for the kids to see someone they know kill themselves in front of them," Dick tries desperately. Jason snorts.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>"Nightwing, think about how traumatizing it'll be for the kids to get <em>blown up and killed</em>," he mocks. "Besides, I'm not seein' anyone else offer an alternative."</p>
<p> </p>
<p>"That doesn't mean shooting you is what we're gonna do," Tim says.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>"Oh, shut up," Jason replies. "They could've killed me the moment they got their hands on me and no one would've known. You didn't even realize I was gone!"</p>
<p> </p>
<p><em>"Boys," </em>Steph interrupts again. "I can't believe you're making <em>me </em>be the responsible one, holy shit. Stop arguing and let's start <em>getting out."</em></p>
<p> </p>
<p><em>"Twenty minutes," </em>a mechanical voice informs them.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Jason follows Steph's advice, stops arguing. He flicks the safety off, lifts the gun, Bruce shoots forward but can't reach, gets electrocuted for the attempt, there's shouting.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>Bang. </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Nothing.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>brief summary of the events: one of them has to die for them to be able to leave. they're on a time limit and can't really find a way out (especially between the bickering about killing anyone or not), and the building will get blown up if no one dies before the time runs out. Jason shoots himself, but it's not confirmed if he dies or not.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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